In an interview with Engadget published today, Vishnevskiy claimed that Discord employees regularly discuss concerns about Discord going astray and angering users.
But there are reasons for long-time Discord users to worry about the platform changing for the worse in the coming years.
Since then, it has introduced video ads to its mobile app and launched Orbs, which Discord users can earn by clicking on ads in Discord and trade for in-game rewards.
Fanning expectations of Discord going public soon and looking different in the future, Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron left in April.
Amid current and imminent changes, though, Vishnevskiy claims to be eyeing Discord’s enshittification risk, telling Engadget: I’m definitely the one who’s constantly bringing up enshittification [at internal meetings].
Vishnevskiy asserted in a today’s Engadget interview that Discord staff members frequently voice worries about the app becoming misguided and upsetting users.
Vishnevskiy said, “I understand the anxiety and concern.”. “I believe that the things that people fear are what set a great, long-term-focused company apart from others. “.
However, there are grounds for concern among longtime Discord users that the platform may deteriorate in the years to come. The most noticeable is Discord’s entry into the advertising market, which the company has shunned since its 2015 launch. In March 2024, advertisements began to appear in Discord’s desktop and console applications. Since then, it has launched Orbs, which Discord users can earn by clicking on advertisements in the app and exchange for in-game items, and added video ads to its mobile app. Also, Discord recently announced that it will begin selling advertisements to more businesses.
Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron departed in April, dashing hopes that the company would soon go public and change its appearance. Humam Sakhnini, his successor, has led publicly traded corporations such as Activision Blizzard. GamesBeat asked Citron if Discord was going public when he made his exit announcement in April. There were “no specific plans,” according to Citron, but “hiring someone like Humam is a step in that direction anyway.”. Speaking to Engadget, Vishnevskiy refrained from commenting on a possible Discord IPO.
Vishnevskiy, however, tells Engadget that he is examining the enshittification risk of Discord amid recent and impending changes.
The person who brings up enshittification [at internal meetings] most frequently is undoubtedly me. Building a solid business and making money off of a product is not a bad thing. In this way, we can continue to improve things and reinvest. But how we accomplish that requires careful consideration.
Discord has previously eliminated bad ideas.
Advertisements are automatically enshittified for some people. But for the time being, Discord’s ad load is not very bothersome. The platform’s sidebars display the advertisements, which only enlarge when clicked and have the potential to reward users.
Discord also has hope because its past indicates that it is prepared to rescind changes that its user base finds objectionable.
For instance, in 2021, it retracted concepts put forth by co-founder and former CEO Citron for Discord cryptocurrency wallet applications.
The article published today by Engadget quoted Vishnevskiy as saying, “It was about allowing people to use Discord in a certain way, and that came with a lot of downsides.”. In order to prevent scams, treat users fairly, and increase public safety, we were attempting to integrate certain systems. However, our explanation of our intentions was not very clear, and we seriously underestimated how sensitive the general user base was to the subject of NFTs. “.
Discord closed its games store, which it had opened in October 2018, in September 2019. “The vast majority of Nitro [premium] subscribers didn’t play” the games, according to a Discord blog post.
We built that part of our business for a year, and to be honest, we realized very quickly that it wasn’t working out,” Vishnevskiy told Engadget.
Experiences like these, according to Vishnevskiy, confirmed Discord’s emphasis on gaming, and the company intends to focus on gaming-related business initiatives going forward, such as Nitro subscriptions. The company has reportedly dropped AI features that “did not work well enough,” according to the executive. Additionally, Clyde, a chatbot built using OpenAI models, was dropped.
If you’re still not sure that Discord won’t become enshittified, here are three successful tech companies to remind you that it’s still possible to become unshittified.
